UPDF 'Accurately' Hits Targets in Strikes Against ADF, Operations to Continue

The airstrikes and artillery fire aimed at ADF camps left a devastating toll, according to defence spokesperson Brig. Flavia Byekwaso, who said that UPDF and its Congolese "allies", FARDC, "accurately hit" the targets.

The Tuesday morning strikes carried out by Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) came after days of negotiations between Kampala and Kinshasha.

President Yoweri Museveni had been meeting high-level diplomats and investors interested in the region whom he assured that Uganda, working with the Congo, could uproot ADF from the region.

Found in Uganda in 1995 and later shifting to the Congo following the loss of camping base in Kampala, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia is accused of killing, looting and abducting hundreds of villagers in Eastern DRC.

The terrorist group, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in mid-2019, recently executed suicide bombs in Kampala, leaving some innocent people dead and scores injured.

According to Brig. Byekwaso, "operations against" ADF "will continue as we look for other targets of opportunity during ground operations"

On his part, Patrick Muyaya, the DRC’s government spokesman and communications minister, said: "Following the targeted actions carried out this morning with the Ugandan army, it was agreed after evaluation to continue in-depth operations by the special forces of two countries to clean up the positions of the terrorists affected. "